Switched-On Boxed Set
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Free Music Notes for Switched-On Boxed Set
Free Music Review: Technically impresssive but sterile
Hit: 4 Stars
I bought this after being a fan of the original recordings when they came out. I was surprised by how my tastes had changed over the years. I now find synthesized classical music to be sterile and lacking in humanity. The sound is mechanical rather than warm. Carlos is a genius as far as technique goes but I now prefer my Bach played on non-electronic imstruments. Looking back, these were amazing experiments but something of a dead end.Free Music Review: My Box of Boxes !
Hit: 5 Stars
In the early seventies I bought my first Carlos record. In fact I didn't know what kind of music I actually bought, but I felt it had something. It was the time of the Quadrophonic records and my interest in classical composers was awakening. The amount of Quadro-(SQ)records in the record stores was very small, that's why I met the SQ-record of "Switched on Bach". From that moment my life went "classical", with a special interest in synthesizer music. In the years that followed I have bought a lot of synthesizer-records, but the most of all I loved the ones from Wendy and Isao Tomita. I think many of Carlos listeners have that same experience. By Wendy I have now reached a high classical listening level and I am really gratefull for that! The Switched On Boxed Set has become one of mij most precious possesions. I wouldn't have dreamed that it turned out so beautiful and full of wonderful information. What a fantastic job Wendy did and thanks to ESD! Almost every year I play Wendy's records, but they never bore. Every sound settles in your ears. Also the new CD "Tales of Heaven an Hell"is fabulous. Wendy Carlos is forever !Free Music Review: Better than ever
Hit: 5 Stars
Wow. Switched-On Bach still has the magic, after all these years.I doubt you could find any compilation anywhere that would even come close to the value that this set presents. Newly remastered versions of all four of Carlos's incredible baroque Moog transcriptions, all of the original liner notes, reproductions of the original covers, extra audio tracks with outtakes from the original albums, and a gargantuan booklet of new notes--plus nearly 35 MEGABYTES of material accessible from a CD-ROM drive. Carlos includes a snapshot of her entire website, pictures of her studio, even the MIDI source for the entire SOB 2000 album (which updated the original SOB selections). All this for less than sixty bucks!
Value isn't the only point in this set's favor. This is THE seminal work of electronic music, the recording that launched the entire genre into the public eye. Carlos's orchestration makes classical music fun to listen to again--even if you've heard Bach, Handel, Scarlatti, and Monteverdi hundreds of times, you've never heard them like this. Creative use of stereo and careful attention to synthesizer programming ensure that every part of every piece is distinct and special. You literally cannot do these things with a traditional orchestra. This isn't a replacement for acoustic performances of the classics, but it is an indispensable companion to them.
Fans of pure electronic music shouldn't be disappointed, either. These discs are the origin of "phat." Whether you like New Age or Hip-Hop, the sounds and textures in this set should really move you. Carlos worked more than a decade before the TB-303 and the TR-808, but you'll recognize a lot of the sounds in these albums anyway--because they were so good that they became widely imitated instant classics.
I wish I could come up with a list of negatives for this set, but I honestly can't. It's true that I like some tracks more than others, but I can't in truth say that any of them are bad. This set is a must buy.
Free Music Review: Wonderful!
Hit: 5 Stars
Just as Bach's Brandenburg concertos remain fine examples of music written for a small ensemble, so Wendy's realisations of this music, amongst others, remain fine (dare I say the finest?) examples of synthesizer orchestration. Listen to the superb performances, to the way the melody dances around the stereo image, to how the synthesizer's sounds change every couple of bars - sometimes every couple of notes - in a way that complements the music perfectly.The quality of these recordings is equally fine - it's hard to believe they are all twenty to thirty years old. Wendy's efforts to present the original recordings in the best possible form have paid off spectacularly well. Round this off with the beautifully produced books giving details of the music and the Moog synthesizer together with the enhanced CD-ROM section on CD 4 and you have something no-one who enjoys Bach, Wendy's music, or synthesizers should be without.
Free Music Review: A must have collection for synth/classical enthusiasts
Hit: 5 Stars
This newly remastered box set has all the music plus incredible amounts of information on all the hows and why's both in book form and on the enhanced CD on disk IV. Live narrations from wendy and some previously never publicly heard experimental tracks add to its value. It is WELL worth the price.